Iquitos (film) (History of Margovya)
|Row 2 title = Produced by |Row 2 info = |Row 3 title = Written by |Row 3 info = |Row 4 title = Release date |Row 4 info = October 4, 2000 |Row 5 title = Starring |Row 5 info = |Row 6 title = Budget |Row 6 info = 45 million |Row 7 title = Box office income |Row 7 info = m504 million |Row 8 title = Duration |Row 8 info = 115 minutes |Row 9 title = Distributor |Row 9 info = Pankavuranov Pictures (local) Margovyan National Pictures (international)}} Iquitos is a 2000 Margovyan historical war film depicting the capture of the city of Iquitos by a battalion of Margovian riflemen during the 1830-32 Margovia-Peru War and the riflemen's subsequent defense of the city. The film was the first major film ever directed by Rurik Pankavuranov and stars as Major Alejandro Arevalo of the Worshipful Company of Riflemen, with , , , , , , , and in supporting roles. The film was a critical and box office success, with critics praising the pace of the story and the acting, especially Arigov's, who eventually won the "Best Upcoming Actor" award of the 2000 Leonid Pankavuranov Awards. The film earned over 500 million margots in the box office. Plot Captain Alejandro Arevalo ( ) leads the Worshipful Company of Riflemen on the final attack by the Margovian Army on the fortress of Ponciano (now Greendrop, New Marginalia), which had been captured by the Peruvians during the spring counteroffensive of 1832. As the Margovian cannon breach the fortress walls, Captain Arevalo and his company are made the and ordered to charge the breach. The Worshipful Company survives the charge into the fortress at the cost of nearly half of its men, and the survivors help to clear the Peruvians out of the fortress and its surrounding city. As the Margovian flag is raised over the fortress, Arevalo is informed that his brave actions will earn him a promotion to major from General Urbano Quagliarella ( ) himself. In the Margovian capital of Gascon (now Ikulsk), Field Marshal Virgilio Caceres ( ) plots how to beat back the Peruvian army that has managed to not only invade but capture Margovian territory. The spring counteroffensive took Margovia completely by surprise and by the time the Margovian army was able to halt the Peruvians' advance, they controlled a swath of territory ranging from the modern-day provinces of New Marginalia to Amrovich. Caceres had managed to beat the Peruvians back to Povida and New Marginalia, with only the fortress of Ponciano standing in the way of pushing the Peruvians back to their country. Word of the capture of Ponciano reaches Caceres, which brings only momentary relief to him. The momentum was swung to the Margovians' favor, but unless he continues the attack into Peru, the Peruvians will just recover and attack again. The newly promoted Major Arevalo performs a roll call on the surviving members of the Worshipful Company, revealing that he barely has a platoon left under his command. General Quagliarella arrives to tell Arevalo that the Worshipful Company will be merging with another understrength unit, the Northern Rondaya Rifle Regiment of Foot, which had been reduced to two platoons by the attack on Ponciano. Arevalo is introduced to the commanders of the platoons, Lieutenants Edmundo Pizjuan ( ) and Eduardo Lino ( ). Major Diego Fuentes ( ), a scouting officer of the Army of the Amazon, returns to Ponciano to tell General Quagliarella that the Peruvians have drawn upon their garrison in Iquitos to reinforce the remnants of their army still in Margovia, leaving the city undefended. Marshal Caceres arrives in Ponciano to inspect the troops and is informed of the status of Iquitos. Caceres sees this as the opportunity to bring Peru to the negotiating table because if they were so bold as to take the Iquitos garrison to reinforce their invading army then they must believe that Iquitos is invulnerable to attack, which it is. Iquitos is situated in a high mountain valley and the only access to it is by river. Caceres decides that the river is the way to capture Iquitos, but only a small military formation must be used for the attack or else the sheer number of troops sailing for Iquitos will alert the Peruvians to Caceres' plans. Major Arevalo and the Worshipful Company are chosen to take Iquitos. The company board large canoes provided by the local tribes and set sail down the Amazon River towards Iquitos. Major Fuentes accompanies the company as their guide. After three days of sailing in the river, the company lands a few kilometers away from Iquitos and begin an arduous trek through the mountains. On the path leading to the city, the company seeks shelter in a small village. Arevalo claims that a larger force has followed his company to Iquitos and that they will ravage the village unless the company is allowed to stay the night. When they leave the next morning, Fuentes questions Arevalo's tactics; the latter says that it will take some time for the Peruvians to respond to the villagers' claims of a Margovian force coming over the mountains, and that's if the Peruvians take the warning seriously. The city militia of Iquitos, having been warned by the villagers, prepare to defend their city, but the riflemen pick them off from a safe distance using their British-imported . As the infantry retreats in confusion and defeat, the riflemen advance on the city. The militia cavalry attempt to charge the riflemen, but a well-executed on the part of the Margovians sees off the poorly-trained Peruvian horsemen. The Worshipful Company marches into Iquitos unchallenged and raises the Margovian flag on the church tower. Both Arevalo and Fuentes agree that it will only be a matter of time before the Peruvians attempt to evict the Margovian occupiers so they set up a makeshift fort in an easily defensible warehouse near the edge of the city. Fuentes orders the youngest member of the company, 16-year-old former drummer boy Moises ( ) who was promoted to rifleman after surviving the charge on the Ponciano breach, to return to Margovia and relay to Marshal Caceres both the successful capture of Iquitos and the urgent need for reinforcements. Once the messenger has left, both majors are surprised to see a group of women outside their "fort" cooking food for them. The women claim that since that's what they've been doing for the duration of the war, they didn't mind who got to ate their cooking. A week passes without any sign of either the Peruvian or Margovian armies. Arevalo finds himself attracted to a gray-eyed girl named Ursula ( ). This attraction eventually turns into a relationship, but their love affair is cut short on the eighth day when Peruvian reinforcements arrive and begin sieging the Margovians. Numerous riflemen and officers are either killed or wounded, but when Arevalo and the remaining riflemen are looking to mount their last stand, the Margovian reinforcements, in the form of Navy gunboats, converge upon Iquitos and beat back the Peruvians. The Margovian capture of Iquitos forces the Peruvians to negotiate a truce in which Margovia demands , to which Peru agrees. The surviving members of the Worshipful Company are allowed to return to their country peacefully and on a boat provided by the locals. Ursula follows Arevalo on board the ship to tell him that she thinks that she is pregnant with his child. A wounded Fuentes allows Ursula and the other women who want to go with the Margovians aboard, and Arevalo and Ursula are eventually married in Arevalo's home town of Rio de los Sevoloches (now Svolochyville, Opula). Cast * as Major Alejandro Arevalo, commander of the Worshipful Company of Riflemen of the Margovian Army * as Sergeant Fernando Vargas * as Corporal Isidro Cortez * as Corporal Tarcisio Marquez * as Rifleman Orsino Velasco * as Rifleman Tarquin Huelva * as Rifleman Moises Talavera * as Rifleman Arnoldo Nuñez * as Rifleman Erlindo Despues * as Lieutenant Edmundo Pizjuan, commander of the 2nd Platoon of the Northern Rondaya Rifles * as Lieutenant Eduardo Lino, commander of the 3rd Platoon of the Northern Rondaya Rifles * as Sergeant Isaias Golez * as Corporal Redentor Cuadrado * as Corporal Federico Velez * as Sergeant Major Gabriel Beltran * as Field Marshal Virgilio Caceres de Urquisola, leader of the Grand Army of Margovia * as General Urbano Quagliarella, commander of the Army of the Amazon * as Major Diego Fuentes * as Colonel Rodrigo Valdez * as Ursula Medina * as Juana Regina Rodriguez * as Elvira Tevez * as Hannah Talbot Production Casting To create a feeling of authenticity in the film, Rurik Pankavuranov wanted to cast actors who knew how to speak Spanish, which was the language of most of South America, excluding Brazil and the French, British, and Dutch colonies in Guiana. Pankavuranov even held special auditions for the role of Alejandro Arevalo, commander of the Worshipful Company of Riflemen which took over the Peruvian city of Iquitos for eight days in October 1832. Arevalo, despite being just nineteen years old at the time of the battle, was already a veteran of two wars, having signed up for the army at just fifteen and pretending to be eighteen because he "was tall enough to get away with it." Pankavuranov eventually decided to give the role to , who at the time was more known for the sitcom series Three Unlikely Friends and for being a Top 3 contestant in the 1996 edition of . Arigov had already played a Spanish-speaking young man in a previous film, the critically-acclaimed and award-winning Siege of Santa Perpetua, but producer was unsure if Arigov was ready to play the starring role in a film. Nevertheless, Arigov's performance as Major Arevalo was praised highly and even resulted in him winning the Best Upcoming Actor award in the 2000 Leonid Pankavuranov Film Awards. Pankavuranov also wanted to have a young woman portray the role of Ursula Medina de Arevalo, wife of Alejandro Arevalo whom he met during his time in Iquitos. Pankavuranov eventually selected , at the time a relatively unknown television and commercial actress, for the role. Critics would later say that Pamukova was "made for the role", both in appearance and performance, and she won the Best Upcoming Actress award at the 2000 Leonid Pankavuranov Film Awards. Former footballer , who retired from Sugalskaya Gamblers F.C. after sustaining an injury in the 2000 Supercopa de Margovya, played his first movie role as the strict but friendly Sergeant Major Gabriel Beltran of the Worshipful Company. Category:Margovya Category:Media Category:Media (History of Margovya) Category:Films (Media, History of Margovya)